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File photo - You won't be seeing Andrew Stroud, or any other riders at the John Britten Memrial this year:
Photo courtesy of Andy McGechan:
Email Andy: He may have a photo of you in his extensive files?
Just when it was seemed that the domestic road race scene was gaining strength - this bad news. We received the following Press Statement by the promoter of the John Britten Memorial, Ruapuna, Christchurch, (March 19-20) Peter (Red) Fenton.
While a number of riders and spectators will have committed to the event with travel arrangements etcetera, one must empathise with the promoter. He went out on a limb and did a great job last year, but if the support was not there for him when it was needed, he was left with no options.....
But the release does give some reason for hope in the future:
To the Road Racing community,
Sadly, I have pulled the pin on the Britten Superbike Event. This is purely a business decision.
Last year I put in a lot of money to run the event. My aim was to bring a different dimension to the New Zealand Superbike scene, as I felt that the current set up needed something new and hopefully exciting. I do believe that I achieved that.
One of the other main reasons I put in a large amount of money into the event, was to show to the main stream public what Superbike racing was all about and also to try and attract companies from out side the box……so to speak….. In coming on board to advance our sport. Sadly, after quite a few promising clients, this was not to be. And because of that, plus the general lack of support out there for Superbike racing. I felt there was absolutely no benefit for myself to keep on putting that sort of money into an event.
I have been asked about doing a smaller scale sized event, but I would feel that I would be going backwards by doing that, compared to what I have already done.
On saying all this, I still have Ruapuna booked for next year and I have thought about doing a special event every two years, very much like the Warbirds over Wanaka is run. I think this could be a viable option for myself, plus I still have plenty of ideas and themes to run the event under. One day I would still like to have a proper built Supermotard track at Ruapuna, tied in with the new track at Taupo and Hampton Downs, a proper National Supermotard series could be run within the New Zealand National Series. I believe this would be of great advantage for both the road fraternity and also the dirt fraternity.
Sorry about this, but as I said, it is a business decision and I need to look after my interests as well.
Thanks for your support.
Red.
